Shipping of vegetable and ornamental plants generally, and more particularly, smaller, fragile plants and seedlings that have yet to reach maturity, has always posed certain challenges for growers, distributors and retailers. Sustaining the plants in a viable condition and protecting them from handling damage very often have been primary concerns. Over time, methods of buying, selling and delivering plants have undergone significant change. Early on, plants were made available and purchased on a carry-out basis at a local nursery. Later, plants became available through more indirect means such as grocery, hardware and discount stores, as well as through various other middleman outlets. More recently, purchasing via mail and telephone order from direct mail catalogs distributed by non-local vendors has become increasingly prevalent. Plants and seedlings ordered from such catalogs typically are delivered to the customer through the mail or other similar means. The advent of long distance shipping of plants through the mail and other means has resulted in the creation of a variety of containers designed to maintain and guard plants during shipment. Some examples of containers created with such purposes in mind can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,613,605; 4,471,573; 3,342,329; 3,021,046 and 2,736,138.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,605 discloses a plant package for use in self-service retail sales stores, as well as other sales methods such as mail order. The package is a self supporting, light transmissive polymer shell formed by two separate elements that snap together to fully enclose a single plant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,573 discloses a folding package for up to three plant pots filled with soil and plants, bulbs or tubers. The package is used for the transport and display of the plant item in shops and consists of an assembly of three blocks of triangular shape that when folded together enclose the pot and stem region of the plant items contained therein. The package preferably is manufactured from a transparent plastic material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,329 discloses a container for transporting up to two potted plants. The container is comprised of up to two inner boxes and an outer box. The inner and outer boxes are made of cardboard. The inner boxes are fixable to the outer box and enclose the plant pot. A rectangular opening in the inner boxes is provided for the plant stem to extend through.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,046 discloses a shipping container that may be formed from single piece of flat material, such as heavy paper or cardboard or flexible plastic material. The container completely encloses the plant and has a structure for supporting the pot in the container and securing the root ball of the plant.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,138 discloses a two-piece, collapsible carton used with a transparent, heat-sealed wrapper for shipment and handling and for display of potted or balled plants.
While the known container examples listed above provide varying degrees of plant protection and sustenance, all but one have multi-piece constructions that are more costly to produce and more time-consuming to assemble than a single-piece structure. The known single-piece container is not suitable for mail shipment of plants, however, as it provides an enclosure only for the pot, soil and plant root region. Additionally, in the case of the other constructions, a potential disadvantage associated with them arises from their forming a complete enclosure about the plant. A complete enclosure does not afford a plant with an opportunity to breathe and may also trap excess moisture which may promote mold, mildew and other undesirable conditions. On the other hand, the container of the present invention is a single-piece, easily producible, no-assembly, container that not only protects the pot, soil and root region of a plant, but also shields the stem and leaf region with a structure that allows the plant to breathe.